Saturday - July 30 2022 - Springerville AZ to Bisbee AZ

 

OK, last day of our trip. Mostly excited to be home but a little sad it's over. Our last stretch is a fitting end travelling south down Rt 191, which is 80-90 miles of twisty, no guard rail, white knuckle (ok, a little exaggeration here) road. Rt 191 goes from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. This stretch rides along a high ridge so spectacular views. We could see evidence of last years fires. Lots of burned trees but also lots of new green grasses and plants, and really open woods under the remaining trees. We saw several deer and/or elk on this stretch so they must be enjoying the new greenery.

After the ridge road you get dropped into the Morenci Copper mine, actually driving right through the open pit mining operation. The trucks were on either side of us and while it is hard to tell how big they are from afar, they have a scenic pulloff with various truck parts showing how big they are.

I am adding a picture of our battle hardened Toyota. It has been flawless for the 7400 miles we put on it this trip. If you walked by it this morning you would think homeless people were living in it. It has given us 35-37 mpg most days on the trip.
We then stopped in Stafford for groceries and got gas in Benson ($4.17 instead of $4.69 in Stafford). Then home to Bisbee. All day we noted how green everything is since we have so far had a good monsoon season.

The house was still here, nothing flooded, no bugs eating anything, nothing missing. We emptied the car and did laundry then made a couple margaritas to celebrate being home. There is no place like home.

Friday - July 29 2022 - Las Vegas NM to Springerville AZ

 

Nice Super 8 motel last night. Most are iffy but this one was great. Chatted with a guy hauling elk statues from El Paso to South Dakota. He had two in the back of his truck and was towing a trailer presumably with more. Must be a conversation starter at gas stops..

Goodby to Las Vegas. It is amazing how many movies were filmed here (Easy Rider, No Country for Old Men, Longmire, ..). New Mexico seems to roll out the red carpet for movie makers (and tax credits).

Short hop down I25 and we decided to take the back roads to Springerville AZ instead of going home. Excited to get home but also enjoying site seeing. There were a few downpours today but they were short followed by clear skies. 

We wanted to stop and see the indigenous peoples ruins that are all over this part of New Mexico so we wiggled down a cool twisty Rt 3 until it rose to a high plateau and straightened out. New Mexico got hit with a lot of rain the last couple days and we could see signs of it all day with swollen rivers and muddy roads. We found the Salinas Pueblo Missions Visitor Center in Mountainair NM and they had a great exhibit and movie which gave us a rough idea of what happened when. Basically, the indigenous peoples were wandering around in various tribes for 1000 years and then the Spanish came in the 1500's to 1600's along with the Franciscans to convert the Indians to Christianity. The Indians revolted in what is called the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 and then everybody left. So the ruins around here including the nice missions the Franciscans built (the Indians actually built them) were all abandoned. We stopped at the Abo ruins and the forest service lady gave us the entire story. Trying to figure this all out is very confusing..

Then we headed for Pie Town NM to get a piece of pie at he Pie-O-Neer restaurant. It was actually pretty busy for a place miles from anywhere. Pie for lunch is almost as good as pie for breakfast!!

Then the last leg to Springerville where we stayed in Reed's Motor Lodge where we have stayed before. Walked to the Western Drug and General Store (thanks Lindsey) to check out everything but anything you could want or need. Wow!!

Dinner across the street and then back to Reed's. Our last night out. Home tomorrow!!

Thursday - July 28 2022 - Dodge City KS to Las Vegas NM

 

Dodge City was a little disappointing, but we could give it another try another day. The Muffler Man saved the stop.

We are not sure how to get home to Bisbee so we just pointed it west this morning. Gassed up ($4.04) and headed across the lonely roads of southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado. It got greener as we went west and started rolling a bit. Lots of sorghum grown here which we assume is for the feedlots we pass from time to time. Everybody drives large white pickups. We noticed the Colorado gas prices were 40 cents higher so must be a tax thing since they dropped again when we hit New Mexico.

We went a bit north so we could stop in Trinidad CO, which is an old coal mining town, now a haven for art and music, like Bisbee. Have not researched it but I am guessing the history is similiar (mine closes, hippies move in,..). Downtown Trinidad is pretty cool with lots of art shops, coffee shops, hot yoga, etc. We need to come back and spend a couple days. They have a blues festival in the fall.

 We saw a poster for the Art Cartopia which was free (donation) exhibit of art cars, much like the one we have in Douglas AZ. It was just outside of town a couple miles away. There is an art car gathering here later this year. All you need is a bunch of chatchka stuff and a hot glue gun.

More coffee then off to Raton NM just over the Raton Pass and just over the NM border. Kinda, ok ex-train town. We just drove around town a bit to get a feel for it. Not as cool as Trinidad.

Then we weave down interstate 25 through some nice rolling canyons and things are pretty green. We decided to land in Las Vegas NM tonight, found the hotel and the found the historic downtown. Nice long walk past the New Mexico Highlands University campus and a nice old Carnegie Library (Andy Carnegie (the steel guy) built 2500 libraries all over America with his riches). Deb found a nice little funky restaurant with a lot of locals for dinner. Not sure where we go tomorrow??

Wednesday - July 27 2022 - Freemont NE to Dodge City KS

Today we made the big transition from corn and soy in eastern Nebraska (looks just like Iowa) and sparse grassland of western Kansas.

No breakfast at the hotel (no coffee maker in the room, no cups, no extra blankets..) so we stopped at McD's and got a couple english muffin egg thingies and coffee. Today's plan was to stop in Lincoln Nebraska and get a tour of the state capital. A couple hours and we were parked in front of it (free parking) after talking to the nice tourist info lady the other side of town. Deb scored 4 or 5 state maps (she has a thing for paper maps). We got to the capital building just in time for the 10am tour led by a young woman trainee and her boss. The building has 14 floors but the pretty parts are on the first couple floors. Nebraska built it between 1922 and 1932 or so and they built it under budget and they built the new building around the old one so they could keep building. Nebraska has a unicameral legislature (senate only, no house) and they have 49 "senators" for the states 1.9 million people. And they only meet part time and they are paid $12,000 per year. The building is very impressive. The tour guides were crucial to point out each mosaic and it's meaning in the history of Nebraska. After this tour we realized that state capital tours are on our list as we start travelling more in the US.

Then we told Google Maps to get us to Bisbee and see where it takes us. We ended up heading west on Interstate 80 for a while, stopped at the Kearney Archway that goes over the interstate and said nope to the $13 per head they wanted to go through the museum. We did snag some free popcorn and soon turned south off the highway. We looked at places to end the day so we could get a hotel and decided Dodge City Kansas would be a little out of the way but might be interesting. The rest of the day we headed south and mid afternoon saw the landscape change from corn and soy fields to grassland. It's starting to feel like the south west again.

We got to the hotel around 7pm and found a place to get a couple salads at a restaurant at the local golf club. 

Then we went downtown to see what Dodge City was all about. We were expecting a kitschy tourist trap like Tombstone AZ, given our hotel was on Wyatt Earp Road, but it was kind of disappointment. They do have a couple museums but Tombstone definitely out kitsches them. But I caught out of the corner of my eye a Muffler Man with a sombrero hat on.  We stopped and discovered that this Muffler Man belonged to movie star Dennis Hopper ("Easy Rider", Peter Fonda, ..). Dennis was born and grew up here in Dodge City and loved Muller Men. He owned two of them himself and when he died, they were given to the city. This one is called "La Salsa Man".

Dennis had another Muffler Man that ended up in another town in Kansas. I guess there wasn't enough room for two Muffler Men in Dodge City..

Tuesday - July 26 2022 - Cedar Rapids IA to Freemont NE

 

John Deere Museum day!!

Another great breakfast at the hotel this morning, then fill up with $3.97 gas, then a short ride to Waterloo IA where the John Deere History and Engine Museum is located. This place traces John Deere, born in Rutland VT and a blacksmith in Middlebury and Vergennes VT, from his Vermont roots to Iowa. He learned blacksmithing in Vermont and moved to Iowa in 1840 something. 

He saw them using cast iron plows where the wet soil stuck to the cast iron metal blade and fashioned at smooth steel blade instead. The rest is history. He made a ton of plows and his son took over the business. His son invented a corn planter and about that time the internal combustion engine started to be introduced. As was explained to us, John Deere was good at perfecting, selling and supporting products, not necessarily innovating. They were slow to accept the internal combustion engine and ended up buying the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company in 1918. 

The museum does a great job pointing out the evolution of humans and energy. From pure manual labor to using animals to power things and then to the internal combustion engine. As one exhibit pointed out, the 1-1/2 hp engine did the work of 12 men, making their adoption obvious.

One of the guides there pointed out that kerosene was the first fuel followed by diesel, gasoline and liquid propane. Kerosene and propane disappeared and gas and diesel won out.

John Deere's timing and execution was perfect and they pride themselves on selling and supporting their products cradle to grave. No wonder all we saw all day crossing Iowa was green tractors.

Next order of business is to head west and find the Lincoln Highway. Lincoln Highway is the first cross country road going from New York City to San Francisco and crosses the entire state of Iowa. 80% of it is still intact in Iowas and we quickly found it chased it the rest of the day. Rt30 is the newest iteration of it so we spent the rest of the day following the Lincoln Highway signes that zig-zagged all around Rt 30. Most of it is paved but a lot of it is gravel. When you are on the original road you run into old filling stations and vintage leftover stuff.

We crossed the Missouri River at the end of the day (on Rt30) and landed in Fremont Nebraska. Mexican place and ice cream and bed.

We gotta come back and spend more time!

Monday - July 25 2022 - Madison WI to Cedar Rapids IA

 

"Who Knew" was today's theme as we continue to trip on little gems along the way. 

Good nights sleep, McDonalds coffee 2 minutes away and on the road to Moline to see the John Deere Pavillion in Moline IL. But on the way we got distracted by a little town called Platteville WI. They had a little sign for a Mining Museum so we took the bait. This region of Wisconsin had a bunch of lead and zinc mines back in the mid 1800's. The Indians used to "smelt" it over fires and a little lead would drip out. They could trade it for other stuff and when the Europeans came, they heard about it, brought the Cornish miners over and started digging around. The deal with the US government was that they would give you land to improve but you had to promise there were no minerals on it. That did not work (really??) and so the government had a team survey this area and determine where there were minerals and where there were not. Sounds like it worked a little better and they would lease anyone the mineral rights. The other agreement was with the Native Americans because technically they owned the land. The mine in Platteville only operated a couple years but all the stuff from the surrounding mines ended up in Platteville so that's why the museum is here. The guide did a great job of explaining how everything worked and then took us down into the mine (80-90 stairs, no match for Bisbohemians). Everything was done by hand with candles and hammers and drills. What is interesting is that they used black powder (dynamite was not available then) and the fuses were hollow straw hay with powder inside. Drill a hole, stuff it with powder, insert straw fuse, light it, run, and then come back in the morning to muck up the loosened rock. They visually sorted out the ore and then sent it by wagon to the smelter in nearby Mineral Point.

We left town via the University of Wisconsin - Platteville campus (student gone for the summer) and then we headed to Dubuque IA and found the Dubuque funicular, the steepest, shortest railroad in the world. Actually some rich guy in 1882 got sick of the 30 minute horse and buggy ride up to his house on top of the hill overlooking Dubuque so he built the funicular. And it's still running today. At $4 for a round trip it's a little gold mine.

We walked around town (nice tourist info lady) and then back in the car so we could get to the John Deere Pavillion before it closed at 4pm.

The John Deere place did not disappoint mainly because by some great stroke of luck, a retired John Deere engineer was there with his grand kids and we talked each others ears off. So rare to get a behind the scenes view of how John Deere engineering works, the evolution of design and what's coming next. I wish I could start my engineering career over again!! He knew everybody in the place and he told the ladies behind the store counter to give me the employee discount on the shirt I bought. Just when you think it can't get any better it does!!

We decided we would head for Waterloo IA where the big John Deere museum is. We made it to Cedar Rapids, got a room , got some dinner and then walked around downtown in the Czech Village / New Bohemia part of town.

Every little town seems to have something interesting to look at.

Sunday - July 24 2022 - Munising MI to Madison WI

 

Breakfast at the motel (pretty good) and then filled up with $3.97 gas across the road. It feels like gas is getting cheaper (certainly cheaper than the $5.70 in Canada) and it got cheaper as we went south today. We said goodbye to Munising but we will be back when we can spend more time. Today we go to Madison WI where we have not been. It is the capitol of Wisconsin and also home to the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Great country music channels here (I am slowly making a convert out of Deb) and a couple podcasts burns up the road. Left over pizza (cold pizza is the best) in the car for lunch.

Got to Madison and blown away by how beautiful the capital building is. Bonus tidbit, All the granite came from Vermont!. The information guy says they must have wiped us out because it's such a big building. We will make more..

The a nice walk down State Street which is a pedestrian street that runs between the capital building and the UW campus on the lake shore. UW has a beautiful campus right on the water and it was a beautiful summer Sunday so everybody was on the waterfront. You can get food and pitchers of beer and sit on the tables right in front of all the boats on the lake.

There was an engineering competition which involved cardboard and duct tape to make boats with people in them. By the time we got there it was mostly wet pulp but lots of big smiles.

Then the long walk back to the capitol building where we parked (for free). I think Sunday afternoon was the perfect time to hit the down town.

Deb navigated us south of town to the hotel for the night. Load of laundry and then a light dinner (remember the pizza). John Deere in Moline IL tomorrow.

Saturday - July 23 2022 - Painted Rocks National Seashore

 

Today's task was to explore Painted Rocks National Seashore day. Nothing says UP (Upper Peninsula) better than this park.

Deb lined up a boat tour, which is the best way to see the park. It is 42 miles long and the main attraction is the beautiful rock formations all along the shore. The other way is kayaking which were everywhere, but you need to get a big boat to take you up the shore a ways. The other kayak trick would be to haul your kayaks to one of the beaches and launch it from there. But we only have today and we also wanted to drive up the coast and check out the beaches and campgrounds, so the 10:00 to 2:30 boat was the way to go.

Another great weather day with clouds holding off until late in the day. I think I even got a new sun burn.

After the boat got back we found a pastie place for lunch so we can check that box. We chatted up a couple from Tucson and also a nice lady from South Africa. We actually met a lot of nice folks here.

We then hiked to Munising Falls next to town and then drove up to Miner's Beach where we parked and walked the coast to Miner's Castle. Miners Castle is a rock formation that looks like, you guessed it, a castle. There used to be two but one fell over. Actually, the shore seems pretty dynamic with various rock formations falling into Lake Superior every now and then with all the huge waves during storms and ice freeze cycles pushing them around.

We then drove to the top of the park and poked around 12 Mile Beach, which is, you guessed it, 12 miles long and is a sandy white beach. The campgrounds at the south end are pretty crowded but the northern park seems not nearly as busy. We will be back.

Then back to Munising for dinner at the Pizza/ Beer places next door to each other. Order the pizza and they will walk it next door to the beer place when it is ready.

Another great day!

Friday - July 22 2022 - Sudbury ON to Munising MI

 

We had a good nights sleep in the hospital last night (see previous post, it's confusing). Sudbury is famous for it's nickel mine which they discovered in the late 1800's when the railroad came through and dug up the mineral. There is a gigantic smoke stack, second biggest in the western hemisphere, which we think we have identified, but is about to be torn down. They also have an Eiffel Tower. We then found the Science Center I worked at for a week back in the 1980's and it's still there. I doubt my renewable energy exhibit still exists after 35 or more years, but it was closed anyway.

We found a Tim Horton's for a meatless breakfast sandwich (can't swing a cat without hitting a Tim Horton's) and got coffee and tea (we both said Tim Horton makes really good coffee and tea), and tried a vegan breakfast sandwich (Impossible Sausage?) and they were also pretty ok. Maybe this plant based protein thing will take over some day after all?

Then 2 hours to Sault Ste. Marie and across the boarder. A little confusion about the Arizona plate on the back and the "We Are Vermont Strong" plate on the front, but we got through with no problem. We stopped at the Soo Locks for an hour and walked the tourist shops and watched a big freighter come in to the Poe lock (the bigger one). Then Rt 28 across upper Michigan. They call themselves "Yoopers" here for Upper Michiganders I guess. Long straigh drive through norther Maine type forests and final stop was in Munising MI, a small town right on the shore of Lake Superior. We checked in and drove downtown, parked and did a walking tour of the town. We got white fish for dinner and walked around the docks and another loop through town. Tomorrow Deb has us on a boat ride along the shore.

Thursday - July 21 2022 - Ottawa ON to Sudbury ON

 

Today was drive through the boonies day. After Montreal and Ottawa we needed some fresh air and a taste of wild lakes and streams. Nice breakfast at the Hotel, pay for the parking ($15 CAN for a day), then Google Maps got us out of the city and west on the TransCanada (417 / 17). Gas in the cities is $5.70 per gallon but we saw gas as low as $5.07 out in the boonies. Those prices are Canadian dollars.

Once you get west of Ottawa it very quickly gets rural. Lots of farming (corn mostly) and then it gets more rural and then it's just woods with a gas station / Tim Horton's every now and again. Podcasts burn up the miles and we finally got to the Algonquin  Park. You might think you were in the Adirondaks or northern Maine. Same history and uses. Logging with axe and horse, then the train came through and brought  tourists with snowshoes, canoes and camps. Now it is full of campgrounds for tenters and RVs with hiking trails and lots of paddling opportunities.

We pulled into Sudbury a little late and checked into the hotel. Strangest hotel yet. There were people in wheelchairs and walkers milling around the parking lot and lobby and a security guard. Our room was on the 5th floor and it was fine. A couple years ago Covid filled up the hospital so they converted the 3rd & 4th floor to hospital rooms, 2nd floor is hospital administration and 5th & 6th floor is still the hotel. Pretty creative, pretty weird.

Dinner around the corner at a local place (salads) and then back to watch the Senate hearings.

Wednesday - July 20 2022 - Montreal PQ to Ottawa ON

 

Today's plan is to make the 2 hour drive to Ottawa and then spend the day walking around, seeing the sites. We came here many moons ago when the kids were young (and we were too) and saw the museums and mint. We also came not so many moons ago with our friends Teri & Ralph and froze to death. But today it was pretty warm and a little muggy but all in all a great day to tour the city on foot. We stopped to get sandwiches for lunch at the same bakery we got pastries at yesterday and the nice Google lady got us out of town and onto the highway to Ottawa. You leave the city pretty quickly and are in the forested wilds before you know it. Quick coffee stop and before we knew it we were in front of the hotel Deb found right downtown. Too early to check in but we parked the car in the town parking garage and headed out on foot.

First stop was the open air market shops where everybody was out. The contrast between Montreal and Ottawa is striking first because of the lack of French speakers here and second Montreal feels like a European city and Ottawa is more North American. In Montreal everything from the street lights to the bathroom fixtures to the shops has a Euro feel. Ottawa does not feel like the USA but it is less Euro for sure.

We bought a drink and had our lunch on Adirondack chairs in a blocked off street. We watched the kids playing hop scotch and Deb & both showed them how it's done (my knees hurt tonight!!). 

Then we walked toward all the big government buildings, most of which were being worked on so big fences and lots of towering cranes, but still, they are beautiful. I am guessing that Covid shut down construction and now things are catching up. We saw very few masks today so they must have Covid under control.

We also watched the Rideau Canal locks in action. The canal was built after the War of 1812 to help protect Canada from those barbaric Americans attacking again. It connects Ottawa to Kingston Ontario and Lake Ontario. It is still operated by what looks like 4-6 summer students who use the ancient hand operated winches to open the water doors and open and close the big gates. That old tech still works after 200 years!

It was pretty warm by mid-late afternoon so we walked back to the hotel, little shower, little nap and then found a rowdy bar/pub for dinner and drinks. One more walk to get a cookie to split just as the shops closed. Another great walking tour town in good weather

Tuesday - July 19 2022 - Montreal day two

 

No rain today! Big walking day. We found pastries and coffee around the corner at Boulangerie Louise. There seems to be a bakery or restaurant every 20 feet in this town and they are well attended. our goal was to see Chateau Ramezay which is a museum of Montreal history. It is about 2 miles from our AirB&B but we meandered all over the neighborhoods. Many streets are pedestrian only so lots of people out walking their dogs, sipping coffee with friends. We stopped at St Viateur Bagel bakery which has been in Montreal since the 1950's. We got a half dozen tobring back to Jake & Nath (but only 4 made it back?).

Walked to Chinatown to relive old times talking Jacob out of buying Nija swords, resisted the almond cookies we used to get, and ended in the old city with the coblestone streets and stone buildings. The museum if very French centric but the quick version is Jacques Cartier came in 1535 then Samuel de Champlain came in 1603, the British take over in 1760, Ben Franklin tries to talk Canada into helping with the American Revolution in 1775 (he lived in Montreal for half a year or so), and it's been breweries, banking and bagels since then. And hockey of course..

We grabbed some Montreal smoked meat for lunch to check all the Montreal boxes, caught the Metro back up to our place and then we all walked the neighborhood with the dog. Beautiful green parks, a dog park so Tyler could blow off some steam, Poke bowls for dinner outside and back to the ranch. Jacob has to catch a train early in the morning to Toronto for work so we had drinks on their back deck then home.

Tomorrow we head to Ottawa!

Monday - July 18 2022 - Vermont to Montreal

So goodbye USA and hello Canada or actually Quebec. Before you enter Canada you have to download an app on your phone called ArriveCAN, give them all your info (shoe size, favorite color,..) take pictures of your vaccination card and passport (did not work??), and then when you show up at the border they have the dogs ready and verify your shoe size. A little confusion about only having one licence plate (Arizona), and surprise that we drove all the way from Arizona just to go to Quebec. Actually very nice lady there and pretty easy-peasy. 

The phones actually do work here and we cross our fingers that we don't have a thousand dollar bill waiting at home like when we went to the Bahamas (AT&T said just $15 per day).

The road to Montreal has not changed since when I came here in the 1960's (Expo) and the dozens of times we came here when we lived in VT. When you enter Quebec, you instantly feel the differences in houses and signs. It's like being in Europe. And they have quietly removed almost all of the English language signs so it is french french french everywhere. They just passed a new law (Bill 96) that tightens the language restrictions even more (remove those tags in your underwear and replace with french ones, etc). Feels like they are heading for secession again (they tried twice before).

Google got us right to to Jake & Nath's street and Jacob was waiting on the sidewalk with their dog Tyler,  we parked the car on the street (good until Thursday, we leave Weds) and went for a short walk and coffee. We got our bags and checked in at the airB&B. Back to Jake & Nath's then out to a great Italian place for a night catching up over dinner.

It spit rain the entire way up to Canada and then rained pretty hard once we go here so raincoats and umbrellas which we had to remember how to use after living in Bisbee the last two years.

Tomorrow we tour around Montreal.

Sunday - July 17 2022 - More friends and neighbors, Canadian phone service, Maple creemees and the Florida 6

 OK, last day in Vermont and yet another perfect weather day.

Deb's old co-workers were home in Lincoln and we stopped for coffee. They just retired last year and brought their new camper to Arizona to visit us a while ago. Some good deck time and catch up on all the town school changes.

Then off to visit Mike and Susan, more old neighbors and one of our son's best friends parents. Lots of good years in Starksboro..

Next stop the AT&T store to verify we can use our phones in Canada. Sounds easy but stay tuned..

And the most important Vermont stop was the maple creemee Deb has been waiting for (ok, and me). Good stuff.

Back to Terri and Ralph's and I got a top to bottom tour of Ralph's two Ford Model T's. He retires next year and it looks like he has plenty of projects to keep him busy.

Nancy & Greg came over and we had dinner. This is the original "Florida Six" and we needed to plan our next adventure. We have all traveled together before and it looks like our next trip will be 2023.

Our last night in Vermont. Thanks again for everyone who has been putting us up.

Saturday July 16 2022 - Visiting our old neighbors

 

Today Dave's son Evan stopped by with his wife we have not met. They live in South Korea but are back visiting and travelling in the US. Great to finally meet Winnie. 

We said goodbye and thank you to Dave & Deb and climbed the mountain back to visit our old neighbors of 33 years in Starksboro. First stop was our closest neighbors John & Amy. We have adopted them as our third set of children since we shared lots of adventures maintaining our mountain road. Nothing like late night culvert saving to build good bonds..

Quick hi to Andre (who of course was working in his endless garden) and then Bill who was prepping for tonight's boccie gathering. Quick stop at Dave and It's to catch up everybody on all our kids and retirement plans and progress.

Then our next mooching opportunity at Terri & Ralph's in Monkton where we will spend the next two nights (thanks guys!!).

Last event today was the "65 and Still Alive" that our friend Nancy has put together. Only people born in 1957 (and their partners) are invited. We did one of these 5 years ago when they all turned 60. Medicare cards were checked to be admitted (not really). Potluck and bonfire and non stop catching up with even more friends. And another day of perfect weather.

Friday July 15 2022 - Work day 2 \ Deb hikes Mt Abe

 

A second day getting the Flower product running. We also met with a new engineer we hope will pitch in and help us finish this up. I am retired so it's hard to find the kind of time we need to get this done. This guy is younger and really harp so we hope it will work out. Very exciting.

Deb met her friend Anne and they hiked up Mt Abe, an old regular. Another perfect weather day. We have had really nice weather since we hit northern Vermont, a real gift.

Next up we met a big group of friends at Kingsland Bay State Park and stayed picnicking until the sun dropped (then the park ranger kicked us out). 

Back to Dave & Debs and bed.